Benchmarks and efficiency percentage Help.

[Itsthepaper]

Is there such a thing? Owner wants to start doing benchmarks for copier techs, after looking at callbacks, first time call completion, part usage and all others. Is their an efficiency calculator to crunch all those percentages and number to get down to one efficiency percentage?

[coolbeer]

If he sells the right product to the right people at the right price and provides the right parts to service the machine correctly, he won't need one !

Sorry if this was'nt quiet what you were asking for but its true.

[mikadonovan]

Is there such a thing? Owner wants to start doing benchmarks for copier techs, after looking at callbacks, first time call completion, part usage and all others. Is their an efficiency calculator to crunch all those percentages and number to get down to one efficiency percentage?

Talk him out of it. It will make your life miserable. Pie charts, graphs and spreadsheets of averages are an imperfect representation of a technicians overall job performance as there are too many factors not accounted for (BTW,it's hard to tell that to a bean counter). I'm not against efficiency, but I have heard horror stories from techs that work for large corporations and the way they track numbers.

BTW, "when all else fails blame it on the paper" is not going to help your numbers

[kyrenecopy]

We used BEI which is the largest benchmarking company in the US. If it is used correctly, techs can earn bonuses and it can be customized as to what parameters you want to track. It worked very well for us for over 10 years. We always thought that our biggest problem was parts cost until we went on the program. It didn't take long to discover that our real problem was with recalls and call backs. This is a great program, check it out.

BEI Services

[Shadow1]

You can tell him he has a choice:

A) Hire quality people, pay them what they're worth, and train them well. Tell them what their responsibilities are and what resources / budget is available to them. Stay the hell out of their way, and communicate with the customers to be sure the job is being done well.

B) Hire people who either don't know one end of a screwdriver from the other, or are so desperate for a paycheck they'll work for the pathetically low wages you offer. Micromanage them to death and crack the whip no matter if they're doing good, bad, or ugly. Blame them when the customers aren't happy. Don't straighten out the real issues when your customers start going elsewhere. Declare bankruptcy.

[Itsthepaper]

Thanks to everyone that responded. Well today I succeeded in helping the boss realize how mind numbing it is to crunch benchmark based on industry standard numbers and all the variables needed to properly analyze and judge our techs performance. Plus it's not our MO; our techs are good guys that don't need the added stress that we are going to judge them by charts and graphs. Not all our guys are top techs and master troubleshooters but they give it an honest try, and customers love them.

I do believe in using some sort of system that helps us track how efficiently our machines perform and a benchmark system the works with how we do things, not industry standard mumbo jumbo. Manufacturers estimate on CPC suggestions is the variable that I'm truly concerned with. Any help with this is appreciated.

[mjarbar]

Manufacturers estimate on CPC suggestions is the variable that I'm truly concerned with. Any help with this is appreciated.

Getting a machine to work to the manufacturers CPC is neigh on impossible, I don't know about other brands but Canon's are set at a least double to what they sell them at. On top of that the figures they use to work out their own figures are optimistic.

For example a Canon drum that is rated at 60k @ 5% coverage, we (I mean the company I work for - not CTN) knows from experience that the customer works at approx 10-12% coverage on average and that the drums never go the distance anyway so we automatically take 25% off the stated life expectancy of the said drum.

This means that by the time you have worked out what the drum is costing you on the CPC you have already at least doubled again what the manufacturer has stated, and you haven't began to look at toner and parts and labour (including or excluding travel time)!

If you really want to benchmark don't turn around and say you haven't met this that or the other use it to say "It looks like you are having trouble with this model, is there anything we can do to help?" or "We can see you loose a lot of time travelling, can we take a look at shuffling the machines you cover so we can make better use of your time?"

These sort of questions give you better coverage on your machine base and also tells your engineers that you are there to help them and not just crack the whip, thus giving you a better motivated workforce.

[emujo]

My company is big on numbers..I really don't have any issues with the majority of the goals, as the service manager has a big impact on the final sayso on how we are really doing, but one "new " goal I just cant stand is " telephone clears"..we are required to have a minimum % per month on this item...I can understand parts % limits, call backs, 1st time fixes and so on, but how can you put a goal on telephone assisatance? I am really happy when a customer calls in and when I do the initial response I can fix the issue over the phone, but to say I have to meet a certian quota to be a "above standard" tech???? I can go for months w/o being able to phone clear a call, then I'll get one, then another few months go by...that particular grading point is just plain ridiculous...Emujo

[Shadow1]

How about $ in Harvest Parts - our company has a harvest center where they take assemblies off of graveyard machines. The machines worked when they hit the harvest center, so we don't generally worry about the boards and such, but to have a quota is idiotic.

The first time I got dinged on it my response was: "So let me get this straight... I properly diagnose the machine and order just the parts I need to fix it, thereby I'm a better tech than somebody who just throws assemblies at the machine, but your going to beat me up over it?"

We have techs who order parts and throw them away just to make the quota - so now we waste time for the guys in the harvest center, inflate our shipping bill, and the parts are in somebody else's dumpster when I really do need something.

... and by the way, don't ever say that to management - however right you are, you still come out looking like the north end of a southbound mule - they're the idiots who came up with the idea, how dare you find fault with it.

[Ollie1981]

So to summarise:-

The danger with figures and metrics is deciding what exactly you are measuring and what exactly you are going to do with the data. I can tell you from long and bitter experience of working for large organisations that figures and metrics are frequently used under the pretense of "improving efficiencies", but are instead used as little more than a crude stick to beat the serfs with.

I'm not against metrics per se, they can be a powerful tool if used properly which unfortunately they rarely are. My advice if you are going to go down this route is:-

1/ The data, however presented, is not a suitable substitute for proper management and supervision. You cannot supervise "by proxy" by analyzing pie charts and bar graphs. Managers need to get out in the field with techs, see how they work, speak to the customers, relying on raw data without a suitable context is nothing but lazy management and leaves the whole thing wide open to abuse.

2/ Do not conduct public witch-hunts against techs who aren't producing the figures, do not (for instance) produce Powerpoint presentations with "poor performers" highlighted in red at quarterly meetings. This kind of behavior could be considered "bullying" in employment tribunals and really entrenches a feeling of "us and them" between techs and management. You might really be the kind of arsehole boss who doesn't really give a crap about his techs, but just wait until you desperately need some volunteers to come in on a Saturday or stay late because of a desperate situation and just see what happens.

3/ Be very careful with bonuses and incentives, bear in mind that the more money motivated techs will prioritise the incentivised metrics to the detriment of everything else. For instance if you are offering an incentive for the tech who closes the most calls per day, fully expect him/her to spend the bare minimum of time on each call with obvious consequences in recalls and customer satisfaction/complaints. Expect more conscientious techs who are spending more time on calls (and coming down the bottom of the bonus table month on month) to get more aggrieved and cynical.

4/ Don't expect consistent figures week on week, month on month. This isn't tins of baked beans rolling off a factory production line. This is tech support and repair work. No two days, weeks, months or years are ever exactly the same. Just because a tech managed to close six calls per day in January doesn't mean February is going to be the same. You are never going to come up with a magic Excel formula, a magic bullet training course that is going to stop a tech or a team having the occasional abysmal week or even month. Beating them up about it when you know they are a good tech is as futile as reprimanding them for catching the flu and being off sick for a week.

5/ Consider this, some of the worst places I have ever worked have been very "figures centric" places. People become nothing more than a number. Honestly, is this the kind of workplace/employer you wish to be? Do you really think you'll attract and retain a high calibre of employee with this kind of culture.